403rd Toronto Sea Scouts took their sailboat Peregrine to Port Credit to meet with Sea Scouts from 1st Port Credit and 65th Toronto Sea Scouts. It’s the first rendezvous in over 10 years. The last one was on Snake Island in 2014 with Sea Scouts across Ontario.
The Skipper of 1st Port Credit, Gurth Pretty, had arranged for the Toronto Brigantine youth sailing program to bring TS Playfair to Port Credit Yacht Club so that Scouts could go out and sail as trainee crew. We went for a 2 hour sail and were shown the ropes by the crew. I had never sailed on a tall ship before and the square sails were a complete mystery to me. The waves were high and so it was very bouncy. Mostly exciting, but a few folks had a little sea sickness. It was an amazing experience. They also run week long sail training camps and voyages in the summer.
Scouters led various stations on shore to learn parts of the boat, coiling and heaving lines, weather safety, rowing, rigging and more. A group of 1812 re-enactors brought their reproduction boat Psyche to show the Scouts and put on a bit of a mock battle as we sailed out on Playfair.
It was too rough to take Psyche out and so it was brought into the grounds for some dry land experiences. Peregrine tried to go out with the 11 year-olds on Saturday morning, but it was too rough to set the sails and returned to port for tours.
We were blessed with beautiful weather for sailing on Sunday and the 403TO Sea Scouts did a great job of learning to tack and steer Peregrine on the way home. We managed to reach 6.2 knots at one point, but we averaged about 4.5 knots all the way home. Thanks to the whole crew for making it a great sail and our Boatswain Emma for taking the longest shift at the helm.
Thanks to 1st Port Credit and Port Credit Yacht Club for hosting this great event and letting us camp on their grounds. There’s a plaque in their clubhouse that shows they hosted the Halton County Scout Jamboree in 1939 — cool!
A few photos follow.
